by Shea, Hunter
He remembered the elephants shattering the camp. And his shock and horror at seeing them controlled by Orang Pendek, the little man-beasts riding herd with the proficiency of seasoned cowboys. Ever since his first encounter with the mythological creatures, he thought he’d prepared himself for every eventuality.
They had taken him completely off guard.
But his theory was proving true. The veil between the real and the supposed unreal had grown thinner. How else could they have found the Orang Pendek so easily?
Or more accurately, the Orang Pendek had found them.
He would have laughed if his chest weren’t so constricted. There was nothing easy about this.
And where were Natalie, Austin, Oscar, Surya and his men? He prayed they were still alive somewhere, and not held captive.
What happened after you ran from the elephants? Think, Henrik, think!
He recalled Austin dragging Natalie into the forest. He’d spotted Oscar and two of Surya’s men heading in the opposite direction. He couldn’t remember where Surya and his remaining men had gone.
But he had darted off alone, trailed by a bellowing pachyderm, the shaggy beast on its back howling down at him, out for his blood. Henrik ran and ran until he could no longer feel his legs.
Then something had slammed into his back, and he had gone down. He remembered seeing the ground rushing toward him, and that was it. If it had been an elephant stepping on him, he’d be dead and he was pretty sure this place wasn’t hell. He didn’t smell brimstone and though it was hot as Hades, he was pretty sure he’d survived whatever had taken him down.
So, where was here?
He tried to move his head from side to side, shooting pains in his neck stopping him short. Above him, a mass of stars splattered across an inky sky. People never realized just how many stars there were until they left civilization behind and cast their eyes to the heavens. Henrik had seen his share over the years on various missions to faraway places in Africa and even once in Antarctica.
Tonight’s tableau could be considered breathtaking if his breath wasn’t already severely limited by the stone squatting atop his chest.
Something moved in the darkness.
It was the sound of feet dragging across the floor.
Yes, a floor! Stone by the sound of it.
The footsteps came closer.
He closed his eyes, not yet ready to let whomever was nearby know that he had regained consciousness; not until he gathered more information, knew better what kind of situation he’d gotten himself into.
Leaving his eyes open the barest slit, he spied a shadow pass over his head. There was a soft grunt, and the shadow moved away. Henrik listened intently, waited until the footsteps faded completely before daring to open his eyes again.
A pair of amber eyes stared back at him, only a foot or less away from his face.
The eyes sat above a wide nose, the nostrils elongated and deep, bristling with tiny hairs. The mouth was a grim line, spittle staining the corners.
He could barely make out the rest, but he was sure it would be covered in hair.
The Orang Pendek opened its mouth and roared, its fetid breath making him gag, teeth broken and rotted. Thick strands of saliva poured from that awful mouth, spattering Henrik’s face. He closed his mouth tight, horrified when the hot expectorant slipped into the corners of his eyes and in his nose.
The beast, satisfied that it had frightened him thoroughly, hit him on the side of his head with leathery knuckles and walked out of view.
Henrik tried to remain calm, though panic was shooting through his veins like bursts of lightning.
Just control your breath.
No matter what he did, he couldn’t stop himself from hyperventilating, which was especially dangerous considering his situation. He felt like a drowning man, his years of meditative techniques forgotten.
Mercifully, he passed out before his unnerved mind could do further damage to his overcharged body.
When next he awoke, the sun was out, the intense heat bathing him in sweat, flies the size of his fist alighting on his face, taking their share of his blood and flitting away, only to be replaced by another oversized jungle insect. Unable to swat them away, he could only blow angry puffs of air at them. It made the insects flit off his face for a second, before diving right back.
He wondered if they were attracted to the dried Orang Pendek saliva that coated his face.
“Leave me alone,” he croaked to no avail.
The moment he spoke, there was sudden movement all around him. Low, murmuring voices grumbled back and forth. He couldn’t make out what they were saying because this was obviously not human speech. No human could replicate the deep, throaty gargling that seemed to come from the bowels of their chests.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Henrik said.
All of the talking stopped.
Could they have possibly understood me?
No.
If the creatures could understand any language, it surely wouldn’t be English. There were not many occasions on the island to come across it.
There was a tremendous commotion of screeching overhead. He looked to the sky but saw nothing, save a thin, passing cloud.
“That was a clever trick with the elephants,” he continued. Talking made him feel like he had some measure of control. And it did silence the creatures. “You took us by surprise. I suppose you had spotted us early on. It shows you can plan, organize, think. I wonder what went through your minds the day you murdered my father. Had you been watching us then, too? Did you see that he was the alpha of our group? Did you know that by killing him, we would flee? We were close, were we not? Too close for your comfort.”
He heard a hard hoot, then the cold quiet resumed.
“You should have killed me back then. But maybe you don’t comprehend revenge. That’s’ quite all right. I’m happy to teach you.”
It was big talk from a man who was utterly incapacitated, but perhaps if he exuded enough confidence, even anger, it would alter whatever they had in mind for him.
Of course, I may only be making things worse. No matter. If I’m to die here, so close to my objective, I’ll do so on my terms.
“Are you afraid to speak around me now? Why? You have me captive. The only thing I can move is my mouth. Maybe you’re not as smart and strong as you think.”
The high-pitched cries overhead intensified. Henrik could feel the tension building around him.
What was up there?
The creatures surrounding him began shuffling around, anxious scraping of feet on stone belying their rising panic.
What’s got them so afraid? Surely it isn’t me.
The stone on his body was suddenly lifted away. His lungs sang with relief as he gathered in a great, cool breath.
His body was numb, pins and needles flooding every inch of his flesh. It was excruciating. He grimaced, struggling to open and close his fingers, feeling nothing. Trying to sit up and face his captors, he could only move several inches off the sharp stone slab.
Looking about, there was no sign of the Orang Pendeks. They had scattered like the wind.
Screeeeeeeeee!
Henrik looked up in time to see the leather-winged creatures diving toward him, long beaks coming to a deadly point, talons that could grab cattle with ease outstretched, eager to snatch him up.
“So, that’s what you’re all afraid of,” he said, again considering the intelligence of the Orang Pendek. They had trapped him, numbed his body and left him here as a kind of sacrifice.
The flying beasts resembled prehistoric pterodactyls, though they were smaller than the representations he’d seen in museums, but not by much.
The Orang Pendeks had set the table for the winged creatures, and he was apparently today’s special.
Chapter Thirteen
Natalie stared at the soupy remains of Bambang with utter revulsion. She ran away from his flattened body and threw up.
“Looks like a
n elephant got him,” Austin said.
Even though the porter had just the day before pointed a rifle at them, she had come to like him. He seemed the sweetest of Surya’s men, always with a smile on his face.
His teeth had been ground into powder now, mixing with the red and pink miasma of his exploded body.
While she battled dry heaves, Austin pried the lids off the wooden crates. One of them had been smashed to splinters, the weapons inside twisted ruins.
Composing herself as best she could, she said, “Shouldn’t we get some food and water before arming ourselves to the teeth?”
“You do that, I’ll do this,” he said.
Natalie’s arms shook from exhaustion and fear as she gathered firewood and kindling into the fire pit. Where was everyone? She and Austin were no great explorers. If no one returned to the camp, they would die out here.
The fire made her feel safer, driving the shadows away, but it also shined it’s flickering light on Bambang’s remains. She pulled one of the tents apart and laid it over him, securing the ends with heavy rocks.
Austin had armed himself like Rambo, complete with a belt of bullets over his chest. He tossed her a bottle of water. She greedily drank the entire thing, then fought her stomach to keep it down. She’d thrown up enough for one day.
Thankfully, their food was spared total destruction. She heated up some rice and soybeans, sitting across from her brother. His eyes were in constant motion, his body tensing and pointing his gun at every sound.
“What the hell did we get ourselves into?” she said.
“What, you weren’t expecting Indonesian Bigfoots to be riding elephants and a Majungasaurus to be lurking around the jungle? I think I saw all that stuff listed in the Sumatra brochure they had at the airport.”
She checked the rice, thought it had a few minutes still to go. Her stomach cried out for her to waste no time and just eat it raw.
“Seriously, what’s going on out here? Orang Pendek and dinosaurs? I know some people think the little orange guys are just a surviving offshoot of modern man, but this is taking things too far.”
“I don’t know about that,” Austin said, laying an assault rifle across his lap. “If the Orang Pendek are a prehistoric us, why couldn’t dinosaurs survive here? I mean, they have everything they’d need, including total privacy.”
Natalie shook her head, her brain struggling to reconcile everything she’d experienced since stepping into this madness. “Wouldn’t, like, Google Earth have spotted something even accidentally?”
He looked up at the thick canopy of trees. “Google Earth doesn’t have X-Ray vision.”
“So now what do we do, besides eat and maybe pass out?”
“I guess we wait. Someone has to find their way back.”
“Your optimism isn’t infectious. And what if what comes back here isn’t something we’d exactly greet with open arms?”
“This time, we won’t be taken by surprise. We’ll be armed to the teeth.”
Natalie spooned out the rice and soybeans. She had no idea what the spices were that the porters had packed, so she hadn’t added any. The food was bland as hell…and delicious. She was pretty sure she could have eaten tree bark and given it five stars on Yelp.
She said, “Oh yeah, look at us, the big bad commandos.”
He handed her a rifle that looked like it had a grenade launcher attached to the underside of the barrel. “Just fake it till you make it.”
They ate in silence, or what passed for silence in a primitive jungle where every creature great and small had their own, brash voices – and sometimes chilling ones at that. The gibbons gossiped in the dark, most likely talking about the dazed and incompetent humans below.
“I miss Henrik,” Natalie said.
“I know, Nat. I do, too.”
“You think he’s okay?”
“Knowing him, he’s probably done with the Orang Pendek and taking a well-deserved nap before heading back.”
She dumped the remains of her rice and beans in the fire. The tepid concoction hissed when it hit the flames. “He’s not Batman. I know he’s better equipped than most people, but this? I’m really worried.”
Austin gathered his guns and walked past the reach of the firelight. “Look, why don’t you try to get some sleep? I’ll take first watch.”
Natalie scooped a heavy black rifle in her arms. “Is this the G41?”
“Nope. It’s an M16. You really should have looked over Henrik’s notes.”
“They all do the same thing – shoot stuff.” Natalie found a sleeping bag that was bunched up at the base of a tree. She snuggled into it, cradling the assault rifle to her chest. “All I know is, this baby is my new blankie.”
Austin stood over her. He knelt down, curling the ends of her hair between his fingers. It had been his little trick to get her to sleep when they were kids. And it still worked now. She tumbled into a dreamless sleep.
“Nat. Natalie!”
The unwelcome voice dragged her from the comforting void. Natalie blindly swiped her hand around her head, hoping to hit whoever was trying to wake her up.
“You have to see this. Get the hell up.”
“Mmnnggghh. Austin?”
The moment she opened her eyes to the roaring flame, everything came flooding back. She leapt out of the sleeping bag, raising the rifle to her chest, her finger on the trigger.
“Slow your roll, killer,” Austin said, gripping her shoulder. “I didn’t think you should sleep through this.”
“Sleep through what?” Now that she was up, her bladder had an urgent need to empty itself.
“That.”
He pointed to the other side of the fire pit. At first, she could only make out vague, skulking shapes. She thought it looked like several dogs lurking about, but dogs didn’t live in the rain forest.
“What the heck are they?” she said.
He put his finger to his lips. “Shhh. Just be quiet and they’ll come closer.”
She noticed that her brother had laid bananas around the fire pit.
What have you been up to, big brother?
Well, big brother by a minute and some change.
Whatever was here with them did a lot of snorting.
And then the first one became truly visible. Natalie staggered back, aiming the M16 at the animal. Austin knocked the rifle away so it was pointing at the ground.
“They’re not going to hurt us,” he said.
She looked at him as if he’d finally lost his marbles. There were at least four of them. They walked on their hind legs, but were stooped low, standing only several feet high but much, much longer, with great tails. Their bodies were covered in multi colored feathers – or was it fur? They sure as shit weren’t birds.
“How do you know they’re not going to hurt us?” She was prepared to blast the things to kingdom come if they came any closer.
“Because if I’m right, they’re herbivores. You remember what that means, right?”
“Please stop treating me like an idiot. Okay Mr. Paleontologist, what are we looking at?”
Another animal sniffed a banana before tentatively opening its jaws and swallowing it whole.
“I think they’re Chilesaurus See how much they resemble a T-Rex?”
They had short arms (just like some cheapo boyfriends she could think of) and a tail, but for her, that’s where the T. Rex comparison ended. Her first instinct that there were dogs out here was closer to the truth. She took a step forward, her boot scraping across the ground. The sound spooked the Chilesaurus. They darted back behind the safety of the darkness beyond the fire.
“Pretty wild, huh?” Austin said.
“Are there meds you should be taking? There’s nothing wild or cool about it. To me, this means there are all kinds of things out here with us – and some that are carnivores. Yes, I know what it means, too. It means sooner or later, we’re going to get eaten!”
Her escalating voice sent the docile dinosaurs scampe
ring into the forest. Their rapid retreat was hard to miss.
Austin picked up the uneaten bananas, stuffing them in a canvas bag. “I know you’re freaked out, but think about it. Dinosaurs, Nat! There are dinosaurs living and breathing all around us. Don’t you think that’s incredible? If people knew, it would be the biggest story of all time. All time.”
Natalie sighed, resting the M16 against her hip. “I’m pretty sure I’d be a lot more appreciative if I was reading about it from the safety of my home, and not out here where I feel like part of an open buffet. You weren’t this excited when we came across that big angry sucker.”
“That’s because he…or she…could have eaten us. Not those little guys.”
“Well, thanks for waking me up to see it,” she said, dripping with sarcasm.
“Yeah, well, it was your turn to take watch anyway.”
They may have been twins, but seeing eye to eye was a rarity. This was just another one of those occasions where Austin was in glass half-full mode. It normally irritated her, but she was too tired to rail against him and he was the only non-dinosaur, Orang Pendek or angry elephant for miles.
“I’m sorry, bro. I don’t think I’m going to see the bright side of things until we’re back on a plane and this damn island is in the rearview mirror.”
“I get it. I really do. I just get excited sometimes. I mean, all of this, is, like, whoa!”
She pinched his cheeks. “I know. You’ve always been a big Golden Retriever.”
They jumped when something large and heavy came crashing down on the fire pit. Sparks and embers flew in every direction. A flaming splinter caught Natalie in the arm, singing her flesh.
“Ow! Shit!”
She tried to beat the flame down, only to drive the splinter deeper into her forearm. Luckily, she composed herself quick enough to extract the burning shard of firewood.
Angry grunts and shrieks rained down from above. With the central fire scattered, she couldn’t make out a thing in the dying light. The creatures calling out sounded like men with damaged vocal cords, but their message was clear.
They were angry.